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misera, assiduis quam luctibus externauit
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71
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unhappy maid! whom with unceasing floods of grief
|
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spinosas Erycina serens in pectore curas,
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72
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Erycina maddened, sowing thorny cares in her breast,
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illa tempestate, ferox quo ex tempore Theseus
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73
|
even at that hour, what time bold Theseus
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egressus curuis e litoribus Piraei
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74
|
setting forth from the winding shores of Piraeus
|
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attigit iniusti regis Gortynia templa.
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75
|
reached the Gortynian palace of the lawless king.
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nam perhibent olim crudeli peste coactam
|
76
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For they tell how of old, driven by a cruel pestilence
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Androgeoneae poenas exsoluere caedis
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77
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to pay a penalty for the slaughter of Androgeos,
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|
electos iuuenes simul et decus innuptarum
|
78
|
Cecropia was wont to give as a feast to the Minotaur
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Cecropiam solitam esse dapem dare Minotauro.
|
79
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chosen youths, and with them the flower of unwedded
maids.
|
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quis angusta malis cum moenia uexarentur,
|
80
|
Now when his narrow walls were troubled by these
evils,
|
|
ipse suum Theseus pro caris corpus Athenis
|
81
|
Theseus himself for his dear Athens chose to offer
|
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proicere optauit potius quam talia Cretam
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82
|
his own body, rather than that such deaths,
|
|
funera Cecropiae nec funera portarentur.
|
83
|
living deaths, of Cecropia should be borne to Crete.
|
|
atque ita naue leui nitens ac lenibus auris
|
84
|
Thus then, speeding his course with light bark and
gentle gales,
|
|
magnanimum ad Minoa uenit sedesque superbas.
|
85
|
he comes to lordly Minos and his haughty halls.
|
|
hunc simul ac cupido conspexit lumine uirgo
|
86
|
Him when the damsel beheld with eager eye,
|
|
regia, quam suauis exspirans castus odores
|
87
|
the princess, whom her chaste couch breathing sweet
odours
|
|
lectulus in molli complexu matris alebat,
|
88
|
still nursed in her mother's soft embrace,
|
|
quales Eurotae praecingunt flumina myrtus
|
89
|
like myrtles which spring by the streams of Eurotas,
|
|
auraue distinctos educit uerna colores,
|
90
|
or the flowers of varied hue which the breath of
spring draws forth,
|
|
non prius ex illo flagrantia declinauit
|
91
|
she turned not her burning eyes away from him,
|
|
lumina, quam cuncto concepit corpore flammam
|
92
|
till she had caught fire in all her heart deep within,
|
|
funditus atque imis exarsit tota medullis.
|
93
|
and glowed all flame in her inmost marrow.
|
|
heu misere exagitans immiti corde furores
|
94
|
Ah! thou that stirrest cruel madness with ruthless
heart,
|
|
sancte puer, curis hominum qui gaudia misces,
|
95
|
divine boy, who minglest joys of men with cares,
|
|
quaeque regis Golgos quaeque Idalium frondosum,
|
96
|
and thou, who reignest over Golgi and leafy Idalium,
|
|
qualibus incensam iactastis mente puellam
|
97
|
on what billows did ye toss the burning heart of
the maiden,
|
|
fluctibus, in flauo saepe hospite suspirantem!
|
98
|
often sighing for the golden-headed stranger!
|
|
quantos illa tulit languenti corde timores!
|
99
|
what fears did she endure with fainting heart!
|
|
quanto saepe magis fulgore expalluit auri,
|
100
|
how often did she then grow paler than the gleam
of gold,
|
|
cum saeuum cupiens contra contendere monstrum
|
101
|
when Theseus, eager to contend with the savage monster,
|
|
aut mortem appeteret Theseus aut praemia laudis!
|
102
|
was setting forth to win either death or the meed
of valour!
|
|
non ingrata tamen frustra munuscula diuis
|
103
|
Yet not unsweet were the gifts, though vainly promised
to the gods,
|
|
promittens tacito succepit uota labello.
|
104
|
which she offered with silent lip.
|
|
nam uelut in summo quatientem brachia Tauro
|
105
|
For as a tree which waves its boughs on Taurus' top,
|
|
quercum aut conigeram sudanti cortice pinum
|
106
|
an oak or a cone-bearing pine with sweating bark,
|
|
indomitus turbo contorquens flamine robur,
|
107
|
when a vehement storm twists the grain with its blast,
|
|
eruit (illa procul radicitus exturbata
|
108
|
and tears it up (afar, wrenched up by the roots
|
|
prona cadit, late quaeuis cumque obuia frangens,)
|
109
|
it lies prone, breaking away all that meets its fall),
|
|
sic domito saeuum prostrauit corpore Theseus
|
110
|
so did Theseus overcome and lay low the bulk of the
monster,
|
|
nequiquam uanis iactantem cornua uentis.
|
111
|
vainly tossing his horns to the empty winds.
|
|
inde pedem sospes multa cum laude reflexit
|
112
|
Thence he retraced his way, unharmed and with much
glory,
|
|
errabunda regens tenui uestigia filo,
|
113
|
guiding his devious footsteps by the fine clew,
|
|
ne labyrintheis e flexibus egredientem
|
114
|
lest as he came forth from the mazy windings of the
labyrinth
|
|
tecti frustraretur inobseruabilis error.
|
115
|
the inextricable entanglement of the building should
bewilder him.
|
|
sed quid ego a primo digressus carmine plura
|
116
|
But why should I leave the first subject of my song
and tell of more;
|
|
commemorem, ut linquens genitoris filia uultum,
|
117
|
how the daughter, flying from her father's face,
|
|
ut consanguineae complexum, ut denique matris,
|
118
|
the embrace of her sister, then of her mother last,
|
|
quae misera in gnata deperdita laeta
|
119
|
who lamented, lost in grief for her daugbter,
|
|
omnibus his Thesei dulcem praeoptarit amorem:
|
120
|
how she chose before all these the sweet love of
Theseus;
|
|
aut ut uecta rati spumosa ad litora Diae
|
121
|
or how the ship came borne to the foaming shores
of Dia;
|
|
aut ut eam deuinctam lumina somno
|
122
|
or how when her eyes were bound with sleep
|
|
liquerit immemori discedens pectore coniunx?
|
123
|
her spouse left her, departing with forgetful mind?
|
|
saepe illam perhibent ardenti corde furentem
|
124
|
Often in the madness of her burning heart they say
that she
|
|
clarisonas imo fudisse e pectore uoces,
|
125
|
uttered piercing cries from her inmost breast;
|
|
ac tum praeruptos tristem conscendere montes,
|
126
|
and now would she sadly climb the rugged mountains,
|
|
unde aciem pelagi uastos protenderet aestus,
|
127
|
thence to strain her eyes over the waste of ocean-tide;
|
|
tum tremuli salis aduersas procurrere in undas
|
128
|
now run out to meet the waters of the rippling brine,
|
|
mollia nudatae tollentem tegmina surae,
|
129
|
lifting the soft vesture of her bared knee.
|
|
atque haec extremis maestam dixisse querellis,
|
130
|
And thus said she mournfully in her last laments,
|
|
frigidulos udo singultus ore cientem:
|
131
|
uttering chilly sobs with tearful face:
|